


A Hat for Every Occasion

by BunnySiege



Category: Summer Camp Island (Cartoon)
Genre: Amnesia, Backstory, Confessions, Magic, Memories, Memory Loss, Mischief, Misunderstandings, Personification, Resolution, Temporary Amnesia, Witchcraft
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-08
Updated: 2020-09-08
Packaged: 2021-03-06 16:02:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,860
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26361595
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BunnySiege/pseuds/BunnySiege
Summary: Hedgehog swipes a hat from Alice's cabin, unaware of its properties. This leads her into a sympathetic glimpse at Alice's past, and the reason that the witch acts the way she does.
Kudos: 7





	A Hat for Every Occasion

On the even of every full moon, most of the witches were asleep in their cabins. The only exception was a certain equine spellcaster, who was busy making merry in the forest with her fellow lycanthropes. Being a werewolf, she was partial to the keeping of company, and the feeling of freedom in liberating one's sensibilities from what it is to be proper. She had a friend that was a camper on the island as well, Hedgehog. Although both friends, neither stepped on each other's toes as far as their plans for the nights of the full moon. There was an unwritten understanding, that neither was to inhibit the other on these evenings.

This gravity to their friendship extended to everything. Even if it meant that one of them was doing something wrong, neither was willing to curb the freedom of the other. In many ways it was its own holiday; to purposefully spoil the unbridled, chaotic expressions of each other defeated the purpose, and set the idea up that there was a line that couldn't be crossed.

Such a uniquely special mechanic in their friendship was bound to eventually cause something chaotic, that would plunge either of them into varying flavors of trouble. Neither had any idea what it would be, but just as there was the unspoken understanding of their friendship, there was a similar wisdom in enabling each other. Though it wasn't voiced, they understood that they would support each other in even the most foolhardy of pursuits on these nights.

Though Betsy couldn't have known exactly what Hedgehog was going to get herself into on a midsummer night's eve, she had every chance to warn or perhaps exclaim her wariness to Hedgehog, when she proposed the idea that she'd borrow the keys to the witch's cabins. The idea was simplistic; both riding a sugary high, Hedgehog prompted Betsy that it'd be a fantastic joke to swipe one of the witch's hats and place it somewhere that would be a massive inconvenience even for a witch, but they could reach easily as werewolves. Betsy pointed out that Susie had the foresight to put a charm on her headgear to return it to her head instantly, merely with a swish of her wand. That left Alice, who had neither caution nor foresight.

It was basic knowledge that Alice slept like a hibernating bear, no need to be subtle. Hedgehog unlocked the front door and strode right in without any need to be quiet, her bare feet tapping lightly on the waxed cabin floor. The self-proclaimed "cutest witch" had her hats hung up beside her wardrobe, the woolly elephant snoring loudly on her bunk. Betsy rolled her eyes at the sight of her fellow witch. She really was all about being cute, but she slept like a tranquilized sloth, limbs splayed every which way, mouth slightly agape. Hedgehog quickly plucked one of the hats from the hooks, and turned heel, but not before sniffing the air. A vast majority of the scents in the cabin were strong, perfume-like in their makeup. Lilac, mint, baby powder... baby powder? The camper gave Betsy a glance, a silent comment passing between them. The much older hound shrugged, before pointing at the door.

As her partner in crime shut and locked the door behind them, Hedgehog couldn't help but examine the hat. It had a a leather lining under a thin, but sturdy and coarse fabric. The leather differed in rigidity depending upon what part of the hat she ran her fingers over. The brim and the cone where the sides of the head rested against it were all fairly stiff. Upper portions of the cone were more easily bent and moved around, as it did not regularly get handled, nor did it have to hold the weight of the hat itself. It most likely perfectly suited for her, given the hat's countless years lounging atop the crown of her head.

As they began to walk, Hedgehog glanced at Moon. He was getting low on the horizon, and would soon be shouting his several-minute warning for the werewolves to get inside to catch a quick five-hour sleep, so they could be up before lunch. She cleared her throat just as Betsy was walking towards her cabin to begin to formulate a plan for the hat itself.

"Leave hiding the hat to me, okay? I've got a great place up on the mountain that'll take her *years* to figure out." The camper chuckled mischievously.

Betsy looked at Moon, then to her friend, her caffeine, sugar and sleep-deprivation haunted mind sputtering to get a grasp on what she wanted to say. She wasn't about to say no. She could never outright tell Hedgehog no during a full moon... so she was struggling to properly impart her wisdom, without making it sound like a subtle command. After a few seconds to parse her words, she spoke her piece.

"Okay, just keep it off your head, who knows what'd happen? Especially if you got caught."

All that she was rewarded with was a nod before Hedgehog quickly strode off. The morning after Betsy would come to understand that her wording had been clumsy at best. She had made it seem like the real issue was being caught with the hat. The danger wasn't in that at all, no... it was the topper itself.

* * *

A set of deaf ears may have listened better than Hedgehog did.

Upon arriving back at her cabin, confirming that she was alone with the blinds drawn, quickly transforming back into her usual self, she strode over to her mirror. Gripping the hat with both hands, simplistic thoughts of trying it on to live out her dreams of being a witch, even if only by pretending, danced in her mind. She'd be one of them one day. A fellow spellcaster they'd have to respect. Maybe even more powerful than Alice herself! With that, she jammed the hat on her head, noting that it was slightly too large, before it suddenly shrunk the inner band to conform to the contours of her thinking cap.

At first, nothing seemed amiss besides it being self-adjusting. No alarm spell triggered, there was no annoyed woolly elephant turning up at her cabin door. She giggled a bit, turning a circle. She still had plenty of burs and grass stuck in her fur from last night, but other than that... she certainly looked official in this headgear. For a moment, the thought of wearing it over to Oscar's entered her mind. Partially to brag, partially to avoid taking it off. She dismissed it with ease; that would be foolhardy, and a good recipe to get her caught, especially since Lucy was probably already awake. The nosy aardvark always woke up early.

Then along came a thought that even Hedgehog, in her immensely tired state, could tell was a touch bizarre. A fleeting idea surfaced in her mind to simply turn the hat invisible. But she didn't know how to exactly do that. She could turn people and thin, natural fabric like silk invisible. But she couldn't make leather invisible. She sat on the edge of her bed, thinking intently. Was there a way she knew? She wouldn't have had the idea if she knew it was impossible, unless she was more tired than she thought.

The more she pondered it, the more she began to subconsciously fidget with the hem of the hat, her other hand supporting her chin as she stared at her desk. As her mind reached a state of being almost completely blank, at a loss as to what to do to actually accomplish that, she twisted the hat to the left on her head, and in a blink it was rendered invisible. She still felt the weight of it, but just by sitting idly, it seemed she had come up with her conclusion. Subconsciously she had discovered its purpose. Of course it could just be a fluke, but she wasn't about to question it.

She turned it back to the right on her head, and it flickered back into its normal existence of interacting with light as physics intended. Having had enough of the headgear for now, and sorely wanting a nap, she reached up and attempted to depart with it, at least for now. All she succeeded in doing was causing an intense stinging as she nearly jerked the fur and skin around the edges of her head almost completely off, hissing and dropping the hat back into its original position.

This could be a serious problem. However, she could turn it invisible... so, there was that. She had to show up to lunch or the other campers would start to worry, so... she grabbed the brim and twisted it to the left, causing it to vanish, before laying down in bed. It was a little uncomfortable, but it wasn't too bad. She could worry about it in five hours, but until then, she couldn't really be bothered with it. It was most likely a charm to prevent it easily falling off by a stiff breeze or something like that.

Within a few minutes she was asleep, disregarding the hat's continued, nagging presence atop her head.

* * *

Lunch felt different that day than it had in a while. Hedgehog showed up late, and didn't even bother to go sit with her friends. Instead she entered wordlessly, striding over to Betsy, who was quietly observing everyone eat, and making sure nobody was moving places in line. Just as their eyes met, the equine witch gave a tired smile, hoping that they could talk about last night.

"Hey Hedgehog! Get rid of that hat already?"

The camper looked at the floor, and then motioned for Betsy to follow her over to a vacant table. As a unit they took a seat a distance from the other campers, and Hedgehog began to explain.

"Um... I, I'm wearing it right now."

Betsy blinked slowly at Hedgehog, her facial expression gradually contorting into one of silent judgment and disappointment. All the witch's apprentice could offer was a nervous smile, and tapping the invisible brim of the hat with her finger. Her words were laced with the anxiousness she wasn't letting show on her face.

"I put it on, and figured out how to turn it invisible... but I can't take it off." She explained, and then dropped her aloof tone. "How can I get it off? It's super annoying and I can't wear my normal hat anymore with it on."

Betsy crossed her arms, sighing. Her tone was much more exasperated than the girl across from her.

"Hedgehog, nobody can take it off besides Alice. Her spells are stronger than Susie's, and her hats have special enchantments just like Susie's. Even stronger ones. Unless you want to spend the rest of your life with it on, you'll have to tell her."

Anxiety was was forcing Hedgehog to start tapping her leg, biting her bottom lip. Her reply was swift, and it was clear she was trying not to be too loud, while still trying to express her fears.

"She won't do anything bad to me, right?"

"You and I both know that she could literally not care, or turn you into a stuffed animal forever, depending on her mood. There's a reason she doesn't do face-to-face stuff with the campers without one of us supervising her."

The camper's imagination was running away at this point, so she just put her head on the table, groaning. What could she possibly do? Maybe think of some way to understand the way this hat worked? It was a possibility.

"Do you think I could find out a way to take it off on my own?" Hedgehog asked.

"Oh absolutely, the way Alice enchants things is always to make them very simple to use. You just have to figure out what the hat's enchantments are and take the thing off, probably. I could actually help."

Hedgehog lifted her head off the table, her face lighting up.

"Oh my gosh Betsy, you're the best!"

* * *

Betsy laid her wand down, the thing smoking slightly from trying to pierce the hidden meanings behind the magical auras on the headwear still sealed to Hedgehog. So far, things had been going well. Alice's spells, though incredibly strong, were simple and to the point. There was something about her magic, fueled primarily by emotions, that lent itself to simplistic auras that could be easily sifted through for intentions. Sitting down in a wooden chair, she began to explain to her pupil, who listened intently.

"Okay, so the way the hat works is super simple. There's only three charms on it. One is to just be able to turn invisible. Really basic stuff. The second is just to keep it stuck on your head, until a certain condition is met. This is a bit more complex, and ties into the third charm, which is the most complex. It's really very complicated stuff by Alice's standards, but I can tell why she wants this charm on the hat."

Hedgehog sat forwards on the edge of the bed, eyes locked to Betsy's. Sensing her anticipation, the witch continued.

"The third charm is a sort of... memory recycle bin, I guess you could say." She said, reading Hedgehog's perplexed expression. "The way it works is that, if you have any thought, emotion, feeling, memory... anything, you can just throw it away. You just decide to forget, and it's like it never even happened. It isn't gone forever though, it goes into storage, and you're not aware of it anymore. The hat you're wearing lets you tap into that storage and recall things. The way the storage works is super unorganized, and you can pull anything even vaguely related to what you want to remember out on accident, or anything just related to what you're thinking about at any given moment."

Hedgehog seemed downright baffled by this explanation, shaking her head and asking.

"Okay, so it's... a filing cabinet?"

"Yeah, you could think of it like that." The horse-witch agreed, then pointed out. "Think of it like a filing cabinet where nothing is labeled, and you instantly forget that you put anything in. The only way to remember is to pull out clumps of vaguely related things and use that to try and recall where or when you put the other stuff in."

The usually very logical apprentice rested her head in her hands, rubbing her temples. Why on earth would you want to purposefully forget things? Anything could end up being important eventually, or something could happen just like it did in the past, and it would be important to know what to do.

"Okay, what about the second thing you mentioned?" Hedgehog asked.

Betsy looked away, sighing. "That's the real catch of all this. When you put the hat on, you're supposed to decide what you want to remember before you can take it off. My hypothesis is that most of her other hats work only one way; you can put stuff into the memory cabinet, but you can't pull any out. The way this hat is organized, is that you're supposed to remember what you put on the hat for that's in the memory cabinet, and then once you've got it, the thing comes right off."

Hedgehog interjected. "But since I had no idea what the hat even did, there's no way to get this stupid thing off is there?"

Betsy sighed deeply. She didn't have too good of an idea as to how emotional magic worked, exactly... however, she knew that it was somewhat malleable, and could be subverted by performing similar functions for similar results, even if it was technically different. The intention was more important than the nuances of the magic itself. It made it less solid as a magical method, but ultimately less easy to be turned around or repurposed to be totally opposite its original purpose. Both of these qualities made it extremely powerful and binding, but not exact and consistent. Feeling she had something of an idea, the witch questioned her protege.

"What were you thinking when you put it on?"

Hedgehog thought on it a moment, then replied. "I was thinking of being a witch one day, and even being stronger than Alice."

"Okay, so you were feeling ambitious, and you wanted respect?"

"Well not exactly, uh..." Hedgehog had a hard time coming up with words for her emotions, but eventually managed to express. "I was feeling like I wanted respect, and for you guys to just sort of look at me as a witch. Without really uh, earning it, I guess..." She confessed, avoiding Betsy's gaze.

The witch got out a notepad from her desk drawer, levitating it over to herself. The air was filled with the scratching of a pen as she scratched at the parchment with the nib, thinking aloud.

"So... wanting to be respected, wanting to rush things... I guess you don't want us camp counselors to remember your mistakes?"

Hedgehog bowed her head, letting out a long breath. "Yeah..."

Betsy finished scratching out her list on a piece of parchment. She tore it out quickly, then said in a stern voice.

"I know how to get it off your head, okay? But you have to follow all my instructions."

Hedgehog almost leapt out of her seat in victory, but stayed herself for the time being.

"Yes! I'll do anything, let's just get this stupid thing off so I can go throw it into a bunker up on the mountain."

"A better idea would be to just give it to me, and I'll say that it got mixed up in my laundry or something." The wise horse explained, and then she instructed her student. "First off, once I hand you the list, you have to focus on not remembering. If you intend to remember any memories relating to this stuff for even a second, it'll happen in a snap." She snapped her fingers for emphasis.

The witch to-be nodded her head in swift agreement, taking the list from Betsy's outstretched hand. It was a simple list of things to do. Step one: Tuck herself into bed. Step two: Recall a cocktail mixture of things from the hat involving rushing being accomplished, wishing for respect, and not wishing to be reminded of past mistakes. Step three: Endure the memories, and the hat will pop off. Step four: Return to Betsy with the hat. It was a simple list, but Hedgehog was very much aware that it was probably more complicated than that. However, she wasn't making any progress sitting there.

She quickly flopped back onto Betsy's bed, and shut her eyes. Just before she started, eyes already shut, she asked her mentor.

"Are you sure this is going to work?"

Betsy thought a moment... then said. "Nothing's exact with emotional magic. This is our best bet."

That was a good enough answer for Hedgehog, and she thought about how she felt back then, before willing herself to remember something like that.

* * *

It was a dull day. Alice stared out at the campers she was supposed to be watching. Was this something that she was supposed to be enjoying? Susie had left her alone with these kids and expected her to not just supervise them, but also entertain them! Why on earth was this so hard? Surely she could think of something interesting that they liked. Thinking on her feet, she looked around the mess hall and pondered what exactly to do. Her hands instinctually found her wand, and she directed it at a banana laying on a table near one of the students. It leapt to life, peeling itself and beginning to quietly dance about, cutely smiling at all them. A few smiled, but most just stared on. None of them were very enthralled by such things anymore. It was weeks into camp now... basic magic didn't impress.

The pachyderm witch gave a slightly nervous chuckle... turning her gaze to her wand again. She quickly flicked her wand, and spontaneously she turned into Susie! She didn't change her voice or clothes, but she still put on a fake voice, having purposefully made this fake Susie's brows comically oversized. In her best grumpy Susie voice and accent, she groused.

"Grr, these campers these days can't even make a campfire without a lighter! If it was back in my time, you'd be lighting fires with a dry twig and some leaf mulch!"

This coaxed a few to laugh, or at the bare minimum exhale a bit through their nose, but more just rolled their eyes. Alice glanced around the room somewhat desperately, not knowing what to do. The real reason they were in there was because Susie had forgotten to prepare this year's scavenger hunt, a real one at this time. She was just stalling, and also making sure they ate their lunch. Just as she poofed herself back to normal, one of the campers, a dog, asked her bluntly.

"Why are we still here?"

"Um..." Alice struggled, not knowing to lie or not. "Well, there was an event planned, and Susie's out putting the finishing touches on it." She affirmed, being purposefully vague.

One of the less well-meaning campers asked her another question, in an even more blunt way.

"How come you don't do anything around camp? Susie does all the planning and events, but we don't see you around."

Alice winced, quietly shoving her hands into her dress pockets and looking down at the floor. That had certainly hurt, that none of them understood or recognized what she did. She did many important things, Susie delegated lots to her! The counselor was just as important as the Head Witch. As she mustered her answer, she could hear the other campers mumbling to themselves, whispering agreement. What did Alice really do? What purpose did she serve? To babysit if Susie was busy?

"I fill in for Susie if she's busy, and if she needs help casting a big spell or something, or delivering mail, or um..."

Alice stopped to think a second, stumbling on speaking in front of the judgemental, impatient children. Without any prompting, another one of the campers, of the same group as the first rude child, said.

"So, you're just really strong, and you do chores. You don't like, plan anything or prepare stuff. Y'know we can do that too right?"

Alice cast her eyes at the floor, crossing her arms defensively over her chest, her ego somewhat hurting now.

"Um... sort of, I do some planning... I do paperwork. I sign a lotta stuff." The disheartened witch attempted to defend herself as an integral part of the camp, but was struggling. Especially in front of their ignorant, judgemental eyes, all of which saw her weakness. "I uh, I can use magic to cure colds."

A couple of sarcastic "Wow"s sounded from the table full of campers equipped with plenty of disparaging comments for Alice. The witch really wished that Susie would hurry up hiding stuff around the island at this point, as she was starting to feel bad. As the last of them stopped mumbling, one of the less rude campers asked her in a genuine tone.

"Can we get more food? The monster started packing up the stuff at the counter a couple minutes ago."

At last thinking of something she could do to take their mind off of just staring at her, she withdrew her wand from her dress pocket and directed it at the tray. The resulting food came out somewhat half-baked, with rather gooey looking sugar-cookies now resting on the trays of everyone at the table she had pointed at. The witch gave a nervous smile, trying to steel her nerves. She hated this entire situation... every action felt judged, and most of these kids didn't respect her in the least. There was a reason she didn't linger around them... it was like they could find everything that got at her so easily.

She heard barely muffled whispers as the campers gave mumbling thanks at her attempt to give them some form of dessert. Her magic was fraying because her emotions were, and she couldn't function right with the rude table at the back whispering about her. She could hear small bits of words every once in a while... saying she probably wasn't very smart, and couldn't be trusted with actual stuff like planning or supervising events on her own. The idea was floated that Susie probably gave her work that was simple enough for her tiny, mastodon brain. She hung her head and clenched her jaw, jamming her hands back into her dress pockets alongside her wand.

Everything about this was miserable. She hated this. None of them respected her at all. She had tried being nice by giving them cute cookies, but they'd come out awful. Was she really incompetent? No, it was them. She repeated that in her head, before she caught a fragment of a sentence from across the room.

"... probably wouldn't even realize if Susie just kept her around to do paperwork..." was one voice, then another spoke "... -ful though, she might not understand and get... -mber the lightning accident... keep it to five-letter words for her..."

Alice erupted, glaring at the table, her voice projecting out across the entire lunch hall in anger, frustration lacing the air.

"I'm not stupid! Stop saying I'm stupid!" She shouted, clenching her fists at her sides. "You're being jerks!"

The entire mess hall fell deathly silent... but the rude table exchanged looks with each other. Two were dogs, one was a cat, and the last was a mouse of some sort. Betwixt themselves, each one was asking if anyone wanted to maybe push just a little bit more, to see if she'd cross a line. The childish need to test the limits of what they could get away with won out, and the mouse piped up.

"Sorry, Susie would've turned us into frogs by now, probably... not used to being able to speak our minds!"

His words caused Alice's anger to deflate, the tension leaving her stance as she stared at him. Her next words reflected how defeated she felt, almost sounding tearful.

"So you... really think I'm dumb, you're not playing around..?" She asked, her voice cracking slightly.

Everyone in the mess hall quietly looked at each other. In Alice's mind this was enough, and she fixated on the silence more than she had the previous comments. To her it looked as if everyone was holding an egg in their mouth, and speaking would break it instantly. It was the expressions of people who didn't want to incriminate themselves that sank what felt like sharpened icicles into her heart. Nobody wanted to break the silence and speak the truth. Everyone made fun of Alice behind her back, it was a staple of comedy at the camp. After a while though, one of the kids at the table of troublemakers, either not reading the room or ignoring the tone of things, spoke up. Almost the instant the brown Labrador began to speak, everyone began to look concerned. A line was being crossed here, as he pushed this too far.

It wasn't the exact words that Alice remembered. It was the sensation of something bending in her chest, like a steel beam being pushed to its absolute limit, then violently snapping and sending shrapnel everywhere. She could barely breathe, her chest feeling like a tree just fell on it. Even though the tormenting child was grabbed by his friends and told to stop, he exclaimed he was just being honest, making it even worse. Tears welled in the witch's eyes, as even her feelings towards Susie felt poisoned by this. Did Susie just give her basic tasks to make her feel like she was helping? Was she really just... simple? The word felt like it was stabbing her heart with a dull paring knife.

Time felt like it was slowed down for everyone present, as Alice languished in her own self-doubt. This had been a long buildup throughout the summer so far, but only made worse by her stress of being left alone with so many of them, and being forced to interact with the worst of the campers... who seemed intent to make her miserable enough to quit her position entirely.

Without warning, she drew her wand. The witch pointed it at her feet, vanishing with a deafening snap.

* * *

"Alice!" Susie yelled, knocking loudly on her cabin door. "You left those babies unattended? Are you trying to get our operating license revoked? Open up!"

A minute later the pachyderm answered the door, sniffing and trying to collect herself. She clearly had been crying, and very much wished to be alone. However, she had messed up in leaving... even if it was just to collect herself after all that.

"Susie, I'm sorry, I just couldn't do it, they wouldn't stop making fun of me, and they said I didn't do anything for the camp." She sighed deeply. "One said that you didn't even give me complicated stuff to do, because you thought I couldn't handle it, and you thought I was stupid, too... that's not true right?"

The sound of the wind in the trees atop the hill, and the birds nesting in them, were the only things audible for a while. The cat's eyes were fixated on Alice's face, a click being heard as the head witch clenched her jaw. It took a while for her to answer, but after a considerable pause, one that only stoked Alice's insecurity even more, she attempted to quell her friend's fears.

"I give you things I think you can handle. You're not good with people, and you're... honestly pretty rubbish at math." She sighed, looking past Alice, then back to her. "I don't think you're stupid, it's just planning and such isn't your strong suit."

Alice looked down at the floor, sniffing. Her next words cut through the half-hearted effort for Susie to console her like a razor through paper.

"It's because I'm not smart... I get it."

The head counselor rolled her eyes, groaning. "Sure, if that's how you want to say it. You abandoned your post. You forget things constantly, and never focus on what's important. The only thing I can trust you to do is stamp things, sign your name, check boxes, explode something that wanders out of the swamp every once in a while, and throw slumber parties. You're meant to keep the campers safe, you're *not* meant to be someone they respect and fear, that's my job. I'm sorry I put you with them, but there's only two of us right now, and we're still talking things over with some of the monsters. Camp employee contracts and such. Next time we can lean on them... -employee contracts... building..."

Alice's already incredibly low sense of self-esteem plummeted to the earth's mantle, and as Susie continued to angrily ramble on, she slowly tuned her out as her mind spun its wheels in place. So that really did confirm that Susie thought she was stupid, too. Everyone thought she was stupid. Not a single soul believed she had an ounce of intelligence in her entire body. In a way she understood Susie was still bitter, getting over the falling out with Ramona... but her words stuck her like hornet stings. She was brought back to reality by Susie snapping her fingers in front of her face. Alice winced, recoiling as she was roughly dragged back into the present.

"Earth to Alice, this is Susie." She groused, whipping her wand through the air in front of her. A packet of papers appeared in her hands, and she handed them over to the pachyderm "I'm going to go check on the scavenger hunt, sign these so we have some monster employees in the future, and you don't have to strain yourself too hard taking insults from actual children."

In a puff of pink smoke, she vanished, leaving Alice staring down at the papers, struggling to keep herself together again. Nobody, not a single person had any faith in her. She was there to blow up swamp monsters, be Susie's outlet for menial paperwork, and act as a sheepdog for the campers. That was all she was good for. One year in, and this was what it came down to. Surely there was more than this... maybe Betsy could do something, when she returned... busy in Heartforde, working to get the camp approved. She was the most responsible, but she also actually understood Alice.

Until then, she turned and shut her door, walking to her desk. Why did nobody care how hard she tried? Would she only ever be just... this? Without sitting down in the chair, she threw the papers down and leaned back against the wall, burying her head in her hands. Why did this always happen? It happened before in the witch academy; all she'd been trusted with was exams, and simple tasks nobody else wanted. It happened in the coven, back when. Here it was, happening now. Every time, always the same.

* * *

Later that night, Alice sat quietly at her desk and pushed the last stitch into her new hat, enjoying the sound of the phonograph quietly whittling its tune. She had come up with a solution to all of this, something to get her through the week, and maybe she'd find use for it later. Brandishing her wand, the witch finished the last seam, tightening the stitching up, and then tying it off at the end. With the fabric tightly sealed to the leather frame of the hat, the pachyderm then focused on the spell she wanted. A spell to let her forget things... temporarily though, still able to be recovered if she wished. If she willed it. The hat flashed bright purple, standing up on the desk, and then flopping back down, its top sagging lightly under its own weight. That would solve itself with a bit of tinkering with the inner loop, she thought.

Placing it on her head, she went over the events of the day. Each one, she recalled, and then discarded upon starting to feel bad about it. Memories of the rude comments by the children, Susie not recognizing her efforts, berating herself over her inability to cope, all of these things went away like water flowing down a stream. In this moment, something changed in Alice. Up until that point in her life, she had depth, a whole internal world of emotion and feelings that struggled to manifest itself. She had issues expressing herself, as well as interpreting the world around her, but she was still a very thoughtful, empathetic person.

However, as she sat an her desk, quietly forgetting, Alice became different. With each thing that was scoured from her memory and awareness, the pachyderm was more sure that forgetting was the way to deal with her world. Not only was it a way to deal with the outside world, but herself. Tumultuous, scary inner conflicts wasn't something she desired. She discarded her conflicting feelings, threw away doubts, things that made her second-guess herself. All vanished into the hat. Until... eventually, Alice was ultimately simpler. She forgot her troubling times in the past, she threw away the inhibitions... she threw away most of herself. By the end, she was at peace. She stepped over to her bunk, levitating one of her stuffed animals to her, and wrapped it in a hug.

She couldn't help but remember something happy in that moment. The first time she had cast a powerful spell had been sitting amongst her toys, no older than the campers, and musing about what it would be like to dance with one of her stuffed bears. That very hour, she had it come to life. No slower a waltz had ever been danced with a toy, she was certain of that. She had been captured by the whimsical joy in that moment, and it had given her strength. The pachyderm drew power from her longing for comfort, her attachment to the adorable and innocent. The things she found... cute. From then on, it was what she would live for. Her insatiable craving for the the soft, the plush, the sensation of belonging. It made life worth living.

* * *

Hedgehog sat up in bed, dazed and confused. What was any of that? Did any of that have to do with any of her emotions at the time she put the hat on? Escaping responsibilities, not remembering her mistakes? The magic was fuzzy, so it was hard to say if it was really the same. She was no empath, but the camper could tell when maybe the feelings didn't match up. Or at least, she thought they didn't. It had Alice's memories of events, certainly, but were they maybe distorted? She reached up and tapped the top of her head to find the malignant topper gone, laying on the pillow she had been resting on. Betsy was asleep at her desk, head-down atop one of her journals.

Hedgehog quietly grasped the hat and snuck her way quietly to the door. Once outside, she stepped over to Alice's cabin, the sun setting on the day as she approached the door. Without a proper sense of time, she'd slept or worried most of her day away, but at least she was rested for what was about to happen. She knocked loudly. In preparation of Alice's appearance, she held the hat out in front of her. A moment later, the pachyderm witch arrived, her eyes locking to the worn hat. She then looked up at the confused, conflicted looking camper. Before Alice could even start to manifest a statement, Hedgehog blurted out.

"Okay so I was a werewolf last night and stole this from you to hide it somewhere as a prank, but I didn't know what it was. I put it on and had to relive a memory of yours to get it off. I'm really sorry, please don't turn me into a frog..."

Alice looked down at the headwear, quietly taking it in her hands. Without a word, she traced her fingers tracing down the seam of the hat where she had stitched the fabric into the leather. Her eyes slowly went back to the camper in front of her.

"You're not in trouble, it's okay. But you really shouldn't take things without asking, Hedgehog."

The tension built in Hedgehog's legs for running away from an enraged woolly elephant eased away, and she let out her held breath. It wasn't her turn to get turned into a frog or a baby, so that was nice. However, that did not mean she was completely off the hook. As she was about to ask if she was free to go, the witch asked simply.

"What did you see?"

With no choice but to be truthful in the face of all this, Hedgehog began to explain. How she had felt when first putting the hat on, discovering it wouldn't come off, struggling to understand how to use it, and then the memories that she had dredged up from the void within the hat to get it off. As she talked, Alice nodded slowly, her expression changing to one of quiet contemplation. It was a bizarre interaction, as she was reminded of things she herself did not know, since she had forgotten. Even though she did not remember, her mind was telling her that the camper wasn't lying. These were indeed her memories, as it was the remembering hat.

As Hedgehog was wrapping up her explanation, there was just one question that lingered in the air. One that Hedgehog wasn't going to ask out of her own experience with this sort of magic, however... she couldn't help but wonder, if Alice would let her. As if she had read her mind, the witch inquired on her behalf.

"Want to come inside and forget all about it?"

For a second, Hedgehog hesitated. There was a temptation to do so. Part of her pride told her that just wiping an experience like this away felt weak, or cowardly. More of her knew that stealing, intruding on someone's innermost feelings, and attempting to cover it up was even more cowardly. In a way... she wanted to forget. It was easier, and ultimately she'd feel better. What if she could learn from this, though? Then she had to ask what there was to learn. Did it make her a better person? Not really, she'd known that she was doing something wrong from the start. She had chosen to disregard the morality of the situation from the start for the sake of her own entertainment, at Alice's expense, in complete apathy of what was right or wrong. There was nothing to learn from this. The only thing that would sit in her mind was regret.

"... yeah." Hedgehog professed, stepping inside as Alice shut the door behind her.


End file.
